Belgium v Algeria World Cup 2014, 17th June Betting Preview
Entering into the tournament on Tuesday, is many people’s dark horse tips to have a run at the title. Belgium are a very good, strong young side and will be looking to put a confident opening win on the board against the African nation. Will the exciting Belgians live up to expectation in Group H?
Belgium v Algeria Betting Tips
Belgium are running as odds-on favourites to bank the win here and there is a lot of expectation on their shoulders. While they haven’t been at the World Cup finals since 2002, they have only managed one win in their last nine World Cup games. That sole victory was against their Group H rivals Russia back in 2002. Belgium only kept one clean sheet in those nine games, but the current status of the football nation is far improved since then. They are one of the most progressive and modern sides entering the tournament, and head coach Marc Wilmots has done a fantastic job with them. This is a whole new level for them.
Belgium are unbeaten in their last two World Cup group stages, which was in 1998 and 2002 (W1 D5). They are also unbeaten in their previous matches against Algeria, winning one and drawing one, both of the matches being friendlies. While Belgium can boast firepower in the likes of Romelu Lukaku and Eden Hazard (3/4 and 6/4 respectively in the anytime goalscorer market) their defence is impressive too. They only conceded four goals during World Cup qualifiers, and only Spain conceded fewer than them. Keeper Thibaut Courtois saved 87% of shots faced in the qualifiers. That was the best ratio of all keepers who played more than five qualifiers.
Belgium are unbeaten in two previous World Cup matches against African nations, winning one and drawing one. They stitched together a three match winning streak ahead of the World Cup, with wins over Luxembourg, Sweden and Tunisia. Belgium are running at 6/5 to win to nil in this one and there is a decent shot of the game going over 2.5 goals, and that is on the strength of the chances that Belgium should create alone in the game. Algeria have not managed a single goal in their last five World Cup matches, having had 71 unsuccessful shots since their last goal back in 1986. The Algerians have posted four wins from their last four matches ahead of the tournament. Two of those were against European opposition as they beat Romania and Slovenia, but this is a step up in level of opposition. The Africans are the underdogs in the Group, favourites to finish bottom of the pile and at the end of the day, it is tough to see them getting any change out of the Belgians.
Belgium v Algeria Betting Odds
Belgium 1/2, Draw 16/5, Algeria 15/2
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Belgium v Algeria Predictions
This should be a routine victory for the Red Devils. They just have the firepower and creativity in their ranks to see off the Africans and probably with a clean sheet in tow as well. It looks perfectly viable here and there is enough value to shoot for an outright win for the Belgians.
